+1 For the Tikka. 1MOA guarantee, free floated barrels, very smooth bolt. Like Txhillbilly said, the plastic stocks look and feel cheap but they have walnut and laminate stocks available, there are also aftermarket stocks if you want something different. You can get an EGW picatinny rail and normal rings instead of the Optilock rings and bases.

I got a tikka t3 lite .243 for my wife about 4 years ago. It's light weight, I'm not in love with the stock, but it's not bad.

The actions is butter smooth. Working the bolt almost takes no effort. And it is super accurate. With 95 grain hornady SST bullets and 44 grains of IMR 7828 I can put 3 shots in the same hole.

I don't like the plastic magazine. It only holds 3+1. My winchester 30-06 holds 5+1. I don't care for the plastic trigger guard. The action is flat bottomed in the technical sense, but I wish it had more bedding area.

All that being said, it's still a great little rifle. My wife loves it, so I love it.

both are great guns ........a great caliber ..too but imho the weatherby vanguard in 25-06 is very hard to beat in price @ 399.00 $ and it will shoot 1 moa guaranteed with almost any factory ammo from the big three makers ....maybe better with the factory custom stuff such as the barnes vortex.

lol, both priced a little bit more than I'll pay for a new rifle, so don't own either one. But, based on my limited knowledge of the two rifles in question from posts on various websites over last couple of years, I'd go with the Tikka.

It's looking like the 25/06 ammo is hard to come by here where I live I'm starting to look into a 243 also for deer where I hunt no more than 100 yard shots I got the big bores but want a light cal anyone out there use 243 for deer

You could always look into reloading. 25-06 brass can be easily made from 30-06 brass by running it through a 25-06 full length resizing die. Then reload the case like normal.
cottontop

You could always look into reloading. 25-06 brass can be easily made from 30-06 brass by running it through a 25-06 full length resizing die. Then reload the case like normal.
cottontop

yes you could do it this way, and many did for years, but with the abundance of 25-06 cases now, and the fact that if using that case, you have the 25-06 headstamp. if you reload as many different calibers as i do, having the right headstamp lessens confusion when reloaded. if you only reload one or two different calibers, this might not be a problem, but it could be a potential one for me and others who reload many different calibers, whose outward appearance is similar.